Honorary Board of Directors

All directors of the Gamani Corea Foundation serve in an honorary capacity in this autonomous, non-profit, charitable foundation.

Dr. Lloyd Fernando was appointed a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Gamani Corea Foundation by the late Dr. Gamani Corea himself in 2002. In April 2020, he succeeded Dr Nimal Sanderatne as the Chairman of the Board. Dr Fernando had his university education in Moscow (MSc –Friendship University, 1966) and Sussex (D.Phil, University of Sussex, 1979). He joined the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, as a Research Officer in 1967 and retired prematurely in 1993, as State Secretary, of the Ministry of Policy Planning and Implementation and Director General, of National Planning (posts held concurrently) and proceeded to Manila, the Philippines to take up the position of Alternate Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank. On return to Sri Lanka, he held the position of Chairman of Marga Institute (the premiere socio-economic research institute in Sri Lanka) for a period of five years. He was the founder and interim director of the Institute of Policy Studies when it came under the purview of the Ministry of Finance and Planning. He also served as a member of the National Administrative Reforms Council and Salaries and Cadre Commission. His research publications covers, mostly, macroeconomics, development planning, public policy, and administrative reforms.

Harsha Aturupane is a Lead Economist in the World Bank. He has a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. in Economics (First Class Honors) and Diploma in Economic Development from the University of Colombo. He has been the Country Sector Coordinator for Human Development for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and the Program Leader for Human Development for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, in the World Bank. He has worked and written extensively in the fields of human development, human capital, education economics, higher education, general education, labor economics, welfare economics, and poverty reduction. He has led teams in the preparation and supervision of World Bank projects and programs covering higher education, general education, health, social protection, economic reform, and strengthening governance processes. His work experience covers the South Asia, East Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, East Africa, and West Africa regions of the World Bank.

Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy was Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from July 4, 2016 to December 19, 2019.  Dr. Coomaraswamy has over 40 years of experience in policy making and providing economic advisory services, on both macroeconomic and structural issues at national and intergovernmental levels. Dr Coomaraswamy started his career in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (1974-89).  He worked in the Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision Departments of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.  During this time, Dr Coomaraswamy was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, from 1982 to 1989.  He was employed by the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1989 to 2008. During that time, he held positions such as Director, Economic Affairs Division and Deputy-Director, Secretary-General’s Office.  He has also served as the Interim Director, Social Transformation Programme Division.  Dr Coomaraswamy has also served as an Independent Executive Director of John Keells Holdings PLC from 2011 to July 2016; Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC from 2011 to July 2016 and May 2020 todate; and Sarvodaya Development Finance Limited. He is also currently Chairman of Lynear Wealth Management. Dr. Coomaraswamy obtained a B.A. (Hons) degree from the University of Cambridge and subsequently a DPhil degree from the University of Sussex. In addition, he has represented and led the Sri Lanka National Rugby team.  Dr Coomaraswamy also played First Class Cricket. Dr Coomaraswamy received awards as the “Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 “(LMD) and “Central Bank Governor of the Year for South Asia” 2017 (Euromoney Institutional Investor Group Plc).  He also received the Sri Lankan national honour of “Deshamanya” in August, 2019.

Chairman of the Audit Committee of MAS Holdings, Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Chairperson of DFCC Bank, Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Chairperson of TransAsia Hotels, Independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Chairperson of Ceylon Tobacco Company and former Chief Executive Officer of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (Pvt) Limited, former Independent Non Executive Director of Union Assurance Limited. Owner of Avastha Financial Advisory Services Pvt Ltd and Co-Founder of Kalyana, Sri Lanka, a non profit organization to support mental well-being. An Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Sri Lanka and Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of UK. Brings over 31 years of experience in the fields of general management, financial management and auditing which has been acquired while being employed at Investcorp Bank, Bahrain, Grindlays Bahrain Bank, Ernst & Young, Bahrain and Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka.

Dushni Weerakoon is the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) with research and publications covering areas related to macroeconomic policy, regional trade integration, and international economics. She has extensive experience working in public policy engagement with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), as a consultant to international organizations and as a director on the boards of corporate and academic entities. She serves at present as an Appointed Member to the Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, as a Director on the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Cargills (Ceylon) PLC. 

She is on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability (CDES), Monash University, and is a Series Editor of the South Asia Economic and Policy Studies (Springer), Editors-in-Chief of the South Asia Economic Journal (SAGE Journals), Editorial Board of the Journal of South Asian Development (SAGE Journals) and the Journal of International Development (Wiley).

Dushni Weerakoon holds a BSc in Economics with First Class Honors from the Queen’s University of Belfast, U.K., and an MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, U.K.

Sirimevan Colombage, Professor Emeritus at the Open University of Sri Lanka, holds a B.A. First Class Hons. (Economics) from the University of Peradeniya, and an M.A. and Ph.D.  in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK. He started his career at the University of Peradeniya as an Assistant Lecturer in Economics. Subsequently, he joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka where he functioned as the Director of Economic Research and Statistics. He also served the National Planning Department of the Ministry of Finance on release from the Central Bank. Having completed a career in the Central Bank, he returned to academia as the Senior Chair Professor of Social Studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka. His research interests focus on macroeconomic policies, money and banking, fiscal policy, international trade and finance, econometric modeling, and financial inclusion. He has substantial research contributions published in a series of refereed journal articles, books, and monographs. He has functioned as the principal investigator in several international collaborative research projects including those with the University of California, University of Manchester, and University of Lund. Currently, he is a member of the Editorial Board of the Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences and a member of the review panels of several refereed journals. He is also a member of the Board of Management of the Social Policy and Research Centre of the University of Colombo and the Committee on Social Innovations of the National Science Foundation.

Ambassador Aryasinha was Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka from 31 October 2018 to 15 August 2020. A retired member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service (SLFS) he served as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the USA (December 2020-September 2021), Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Consul General of Sri Lanka to Switzerland, with concurrent accreditation as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Holy See (July 2012-March 2018), Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and to the European Union (April 2008-June 2012), and previously as Deputy Chief of Mission with Ambassador rank in the Sri Lanka Embassy in the USA and as Second Secretary in the Sri Lanka High Commission in India. In the Foreign Ministry, from 1995-2000, and again from March 2007-March 2008 he headed the Public Diplomacy Division and was the Foreign Ministry Spokesman, and from April-October 2018 as Additional Secretary/Economic Affairs and Trade led the Economic Diplomacy Programme (EDP). On leave from the SLFS, from 1993-1995, he also served as the National Information Officer in the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he started his professional life in 1981 as a journalist at the Ceylon Daily News and was a pioneer in the setting up of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini (TV) Corporation, where he served as Senior Political Correspondent from 1982-88. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Peradeniya (1984) and a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from the University of Colombo (1990). He was a ‘Hurst Fellow’ in International Relations at the School of International Service (SIS), American University, Washington DC, USA (2001/2002). He is currently reading for a Ph.D. in International Relations at the University of Colombo and teaches at the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) and the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS), as a visiting lecturer.